120125 – High Jump

When I was at school I was a terrible “Track & Field” athlete.

It just wasn’t my thing. I couldn’t run very fast, I couldn’t throw the Shot-Put or Javelin very far and I was especially awful at the High Jump.

One year I recall during the “House Athletics” meeting in the beginning of the year that we all lined up to do the High Jump. Our teachers encouraged us to take part in as much as we possibly could and I applaud them for that because it was great fun to try everything, even if we weren’t very good at it.

So we lined up to do the High Jump and I was officially the worst jumper of the day. It was so bad in fact that I couldn’t even get over the first height that they started on (which everyone else could of course). After three failed attempts I was dropped out of contention and the bar was raised. Everyone else continued. As the Bar progressively got higher and higher more of my friends fell out until eventually there were only two left and they were jumping at some phenomenal height. It was higher than what I was tall so for me it was extraordinary.

My natural talent for the High Jump wasn’t great, but in hindsight I think that if I had trained and worked harder and tried harder I certainly would’ve been able to jump higher than what I did. I don’t think I would’ve won the competition but I might’ve made it through maybe two or three levels at least.

So why am I telling you this?

Well it occurred to me as I was thinking about this one day how the world has a lot in common with this High-Jump event and particularly so in South Africa.  Take for example our education system and Grade 12 (Matric) as an even better example.  Now the Government want more students to get the Grade 12 qualification don’t they? (Because it makes them look good and having more people pass matric shows how good their Education system is.) So they have two choices. They can either teach everyone better or they can lower the standard of a pass. Right?

That’s like having all these people lined up for the High Jump. In order to progress to the next level, you have to clear the first level. If you cant clear the first level, you cannot progress. So one can either train harder to jump higher and clear the level or, the bar can be lowered to allow more people to clear that level.

Sadly, in many cases what happens is that the bar gets lowered. Lowering the bar though, doesn’t make anyone a better High Jumper. It just allows more people through. The people who can only just clear the entry height always will unless they physically train harder at it. The people who can jump high always will jump high, because they can. Some folks are just better than others at certain things.

Moral standards and values unfortunately suffer the same fate. In the world, many moral standards that would once have been deemed taboo are now readily accepted as the norm. What’s changed? Well basically, the bar was lowered.  There was a certain level or standard that was acceptable and that has progressively been lowered and lowered again until we sit in this situation we have today.  Lowering the bar doesn’t make anyone more or less moral, it just makes that what we accept as morally correct of a lower standard than normal.

If we are to be a society that lives up to being people that are created in the very image of God then we need to live to a higher standard. Instead of asking God to drop the Bar every time, we need to aspire to live to our full potential, we need to train ourselves to try and reach the next level. Not only that, but we need to try and encourage and support those around us to do the same.

Jesus has set a bar for us and it might be high for many of us to clear, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying to clear it. The more we practice the better we become. The harder we train the stronger we become and the higher we will be able to jump. Lowering that Bar does no good to the folks who can clear it already or to the people who couldn’t clear it in the first place.

Lowering the bar does nothing to improve the person. If we don’t improve as people, how can we ever expect to live at a higher level of moral value? If we cant live at a higher moral level, how can we ever expect the world we live in to get better?

120123 – Jars

About two weeks ago I was listening to a sermon delivered by a colleague of mine here in Bloemfontein.

Pastor Abie Pelser was preaching on the story of Jesus’s first miracle. It’s the one where He turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

The story briefly goes like this:

Jesus attended a wedding with His mother in the town of Cana. At some point in the Festivities, which often lasted up to a week long, the hosts ran out of wine. This posed a very embarrassing situation for them. Jesus’ Mother stepped in and asked Him to help. She told the Servants to go with Jesus and do whatever He told them to do. Somewhat reluctantly, Jesus helped out. He told them to go and fill the clay water Jars with Fresh Water. They did this. Then he turned that water into wine. The quality of wine was so good that the Guests even complimented the Host on serving the very best wine last.

Here’s a couple of observations about the story:

The Jars used were almost empty. The Servants were to “fill” the jars with water. If the jars were not empty, they wouldn’t have been able to fill them with water. Once filled, the water in the Jars was miraculously turned into the very best wine.

Pastor Pelser pointed out two very interesting things in His sermon. First He mentioned that water in the Bible and particularly fresh water was often used as a symbol of the “Word Of God”. Also, “Wine” in the Bible was often used to symbolize the “Kingdom Of Heaven”.

So as he was explaining this to us it occurred to me that in this story, an empty Jar was filled with “The Word Of God” and when it was full, Jesus turned the “Word of God” into the “Kingdom of Heaven”.

Do you see the symbolism?

What about us? Do we search for the “Kingdom Of Heaven”? Do we search for that place where we can experience life in all its fullness? Jesus never spoke of this place as if it was distant from us. He never spoke of it as a place that we had to physically go to “One Day”. No. He spoke of the Kingdom and being in the here and now and available to each and everyone who wanted to find it.

How do we get there? What do we do?

Well, perhaps we need to make our lives like those empty clay jars. Perhaps we need to be empty in Spirit inside ourselves and then fill ourselves up with that beautiful fresh water the “Word Of God”. Once we are full, Jesus can turn that into the “Kingdom of Heaven”.

To experience the Kingdom, be empty and ready to receive. Then get filled with the Word of God.

Let Jesus turn that water in your life in you into wine.

120115-PeoplePleaser

I was having coffee with a friend of mine a few days ago who was relating to me how he had suffered a lot of criticism from people as he had come closer to living out his Christian Faith. He explained that many of the people who criticized him for his faith were in many cases people close to him whom he regarded as his friends.

In my experience, I have also found that many of the people that tend to question the genuineness of one’s faith, or efforts at furthering the Kingdom are those that are close to you or at least, those who regularly interact very closely with you on a daily basis.

So what happens is that we often get hurt by these opinions and criticisms and in some way we feel less worthy because of them. The reason is that we don’t want to offend anyone or we don’t want “fall out of favour” with anyone. In essence, we just want to please everyone.

I was thinking of the time that Jesus returned to His hometown during His ministry. The Gospel accounts tell us that while He was there He couldn’t perform many miracles because of their “”lack of faith”. It also says that many of the people there questioned who he was and by what authority he practiced His ministry.

When I consider this story, it illustrates that you cannot and will not please everybody. Just like Jesus in His hometown, many of those closest to us are going to question us and criticize us for our faith.

I know someone who told someone that they’d had known for years that they were going to preach Gods word and this other person told them that they needed to go and preach to themselves first before preaching to others because they thought the  “would be” Preacher had much “bigger” problems in their life.

How’s that for criticism? What a way to show ones support for another. How do you handle people like that?

Now its interesting how Jesus handled the situation He faced in His hometown. He simply said, “A Prophet is not welcome in His own hometown.” Then, He didn’t try and change their minds. He didn’t try to explain Himself. He didn’t even try to convince them that they were wrong. In fact, He didn’t even argue with them at all. The Gospel of Luke reports that the situation was so tense that the crowds tried to kill Jesus because they were so angry. He let them have their opinion and He simply walked away.

What Jesus knew was that you cannot please everybody all the time. Some people will support you and others will criticize you. Many who criticize will be close to you (like folks in your hometown…or even your friends and family), if they do, instead of trying to please them and everyone else; instead of arguing with them and trying to convince them otherwise; maybe we need to do what Jesus did. Maybe we just need to walk away.

I was once watching an interview with the Musician “Gordon Sumner” who is famously known as “Sting”. The interviewer was highlighting very difficult times in Stings life and also discussing the many people who had got hurt and the relationships that hadbroken down during the earlier days of his career. Eventually he asked Sting what he thought now of these broken relationships that he had left behind. He wasn’t happy about it, but he simply answered by saying this: “I was evolving…there were casualties.”

We cannot be “People Pleasers”. We cannot sit and argue with every person who offers criticism although it is often good to take note of the criticism and evaluate whether there is any genuine substance to it. If so, adapt accordingly. If not, walk away. As we evolve in our Faith and service of the Kingdom, maybe like Sting, we should understand that there may be casualties in the process.

After all, where people battled to accept Him and His teaching, Jesus walked away.

 

111229-Shabbat

In ancient Israel the Sabbath became something far more than what we understand it to be in our Western Society these days. In fact in Israel today, the Sabbath is observed in ways very different from our normal “Church Going Sunday”.

A few months ago, being in Israel on the Sabbath, it took me a while to work out why the lifts in our hotel were working a little differently that day. We knew that the Sabbath in Judaism begins at sundown on a Friday and ends at sundown on a Saturday, but it was an eye-opener to see how much more goes into a Sabbath for a Jewish person that simply just observing a day.

For example, the lifts in our Hotel were set to what they call “Shabbat Mode”. This means that they automatically stop at every single floor. Automatically open the doors, automatically close the doors and proceed to the next floor accordingly. The reason behind it is that if one were to press a button to summon a lift or select a floor, it would be constituted as “work” which is forbidden on the Sabbath.

Driving through the streets of Jerusalem early Saturday morning, one notices that the roads in some neighborhoods are blocked off by garbage bins (and whatever else is available to use for a make shift barricade). The reason is to prevent anybody from driving down that road on the Sabbath. Driving is forbidden on the day. Our tour guide highlighted that should one try and move the barriers and drive down the road anyway, you exposed yourself to being literally stoned by the residents who reside in that street.

These examples may sound very radical to us as Westerners but the way we celebrate the Sabbath is very different isn’t it? I mean, our Malls are open on Sundays; We go Shopping On Sundays; We Go to Church on Sundays but then do whatever we want afterwards and in all honesty, lets face it, besides the religious rituals we perform every Sunday, for the majority of us Christians, its just another day isn’t it?

Now on the one hand, the examples above from Israel and Judaism may seem extreme and at the one end of the spectrum but, the way most Christians  ordinarily approach the Sabbath is at the very other end of that same spectrum. So what is the correct way to observe the Sabbath? Is there a middle point? Is there a standard that we can follow that finds itself between the two extremes and that keeps the day Holy while also ensuring that it’s a day of rest?

Jesus teaches us that God created the Sabbath “for man”. In other words God knew that we needed a Sabbath, therefor it should be beneficial to us shouldn’t it? It should be something that God feels we need in order to function properly as we were created to function.

But what is that and what does it look like?

I came across an interesting website called “Sabbath Manifesto” (http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org) and it’s a concept that tries to outline some guidelines of what constitutes the observing of the Sabbath. While you ay or may not agree with their guidelines, I find that it does provide some interesting angles on what we can do, as Christians, to observe the Sabbath.

They offer 10 basic points:

1.)   Avoid Technology: This would mean (for example) not watching TV and/or turning off your cellphone. Having been on holiday the past few days, I have taken to not wearing my watch and only checking my cellphone every morning and evening. I must say that these adjustments drove me almost insane the first few days but later I got used to the idea and I must admit I feel way more relaxed than normal. Avoiding technology is not easy but why not give it try…its just for one day a week.

2.)   Connect With Loved Ones: Setup a lunch with friends and/or family and spend time in their company sharing and talking with them.

3.)   Nurture Your Health: Get some exercise and eat something healthy (Avoid Junk Food) it’ll do you the world of good.

4.)   Get Outside: Its amazing what fresh air and sunlight can do for you, especially when you are used to being cramped up in an office every day.  I find that if you can add water to that mix its even better. Maybe take a walk beside a lake or river or on the beach if you are lucky enough to do that. There’s something very relaxing and rejuvenating about connecting with Nature and just being outside.

5.)   Avoid Commerce: Get to the shops the day before and the day after. For one day of the week avoid having to buy or sell anything. If nothing else, the break from the crowds in the stores will be good for you.

6.)   Light Candles: It may seem weird at first to some but there is something very relaxing and spiritual about the lighting of candles in ones home. Try it. Light a candle in your home on the Sabbath. Do it in a place where you can see it and every time you look at it remind yourself that God created this day for you and give Him thanks for it.

7.)   Drink Wine: PLEASE DO NOT DRINK WINE IF – a.) You are underage; b.) You are a recovering alchoholic; c.) You plan to abuse the wine and not enjoy it. This is not an invitation to get drunk. The drinking of wine goes hand in hand with the breaking of bread, sharing in fellowship and enjoying the produce of Gods good earth. There’s something fundamentally special about enjoying “Bread & Wine” in fellowship with others. If wine is out for you, then Grape Juice or another alternative substitute will suffice.

8.)   Eat Bread: See point 7 above.

9.)   Find Silence:  Take some time to get away from the hustle and bustle of your life and find a place where you can spend just a few minutes in silence and inward reflection. There is nothing as refreshing as a quieting of the spirit, heart and mind for a few moments.

10.)                 Give Back:  Now how do you do that within the above guidelines? It needn’t take a lot of time and it needn’t be anything extravagant.  Well maybe take a walk to an old age home and visit someone who is lonely; Or invite someone that needs company over for lunch that day. There are many ways we can give back without having to spend money on the Sabbath.

As I mentioned earlier, you may or may not agree with any of these guidelines. They do however offer some practical examples of what we can do differently when observing the Sabbath.

Id like to encourage you that as you approach this new year that you make a commitment to observing the Sabbath a little differently this year and maybe implementing some or all of these ideas into that observation of that day in your life once a week.

I’d like to know how it goes and I’d also like to know your thoughts and experiences in this regard so please feel free to let me know what you think and how it goes. I look forward to your comments.

God Bless.

111124 – Tongue

Prentice has been accredited with the following quote: “There are many whose tongues might govern multitudes, if they could but govern their tongues.” How true is that?

Proverbs 21:3 teaches that one who can control his tongue will keep his life free from troubles. The book of James (3:8) tells us how difficult it is to subdue the tongue. James goes on to say that that the tongue, although perhaps a bit extreme of him, “is full of poison.”

The fact is that the tongue, like a rudder that steers a boat, is a small organ in the human body but it can make a massive difference to the whole life and world of the person who commands it. References to the “tongue” obviously are references to the words that a person speaks. What we say makes a big difference both to ourselves and to the lives of those around us. The things that we say can either bless and build up or they can curse and break down.

Words are exceptionally powerful and too often we don’t realize just how powerful they actually are. Ancient Rabbi’s used to say that words are like arrows fired from a bow. The idea is that once you have released an arrow from a bow you cannot hold it back. Its gone…beyond your reach and control…and wherever it hits the damage will be done. I know people who have very little control over their tongues. Perhaps that’s an incorrect observation of mine since, in reality, every single one of has full control over our tongues and what we say.

The point is that many people feel that they can simply speak without even thinking. At times, I am often tempted to offer people a glass of water to help them swallow their “feet”! Many of us feel that we can simply express ourselves as we please whenever we please regardless of who is present. Very often we might speak to people in a way that is degrading and disrespectful. The fact of life is this: If you are not blessing and building up with the words you speak, then you are breaking down.

You’ve probably heard the old adage: “If you haven’t got something nice to say about someone then don’t say anything at all.” If people could follow this simple rule it would spare others, and themselves, a lot of pain and disappointment. Simply put, you cannot, no matter how much YOU think you can, say whatever you want to whoever you want without there being consequences.

People all over the world continue to fight for the right to freedom of speech. On the one hand they want be able to share information with whoever they want whenever they want, but in many cases all they really want is the right to openly criticize something or someone. Admittedly there is a place in the world for constructive criticism, but that isn’t what I am talking about here.

Freedom of speech is a very honorable thing to want but I don’t always think we understand the responsibility that comes with that. Too often we forget, like an arrow fired from a bow, that the words we speak have consequences. The words we speak affect not only what others think of us, but they also affect how others react to us. You cannot openly criticize someone without breaking him or her down in some way. You cannot openly criticize someone close to someone else in front of them and then expect that this will not have an affect on the person you are speaking to. You can never open the floodgates of your opinion and judgment and release it through your words aimed at someone in front of you and expect that everything will just be okay in a little while. It doesn’t work like that. Life doesn’t work like that. Words have consequence.

In short, we are in full control of our tongues. We are in full control of our words. Our mouths cannot speak without us making it speak. The idea that we simply “have to” say what is on our heart is absolute rubbish. What we have to do is control ourselves. People who feel that they can say whatever they want to whoever they want whenever they want and often do, are simply too undisciplined within themselves to control themselves. These are the types of people that Prentice is referring to in his quote.

In my experience, sadly, people like this are often not well liked and very often are some of the loneliest people I know. What would you expect though? No one who has experienced the criticism, insult, curses and judgment from another persons lips wants to be anywhere near them. Frankly, I don’t blame them.

We need to learn to control our tongues. We need to learn to not always say just what we want to say. We need to learn that if we cannot say something nice about someone else then we should rather say nothing. We need to learn to the self discipline to stop and think before we open our mouths to speak because those words that we say, like arrows, can never be pulled back or withdrawn. Like an arrow that’s fired, where these words land they will have consequence.

Yes, I guess you can say whatever you want. Yes, I guess you can say this to whomever you want, whenever you want. But remember this: YOU will have to live with the consequences of those words for the rest of YOUR life.

111120 – Follow

When we study the ministry of Jesus as it is laid out in the Gospels, we find that at certain times Jesus calls people to “Come” and obviously follow Him and then at other times He tells them to “Go” in order to accomplish something.

Some examples would be when Jesus calls his first disciples He tells them to “Come and Follow Me…” which they respond to by dropping their fishing nets and going after Him. Later, as we see in the scene just prior to Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven, He delivers the “Great Commission” and then tells His disciples to “Go into all the world…”.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? What does that look like? Well I would say that following Jesus not only means that we need to “come” when He asks us to come, but we also “go” when He asks us to go.

I’m not sure how many of you had the opportunity of serving in the Defence Force but when I was young the “Angolan Bush War” was being fought in what was then called “South West Africa” (Namibia today). As in any example of war (You can see it in the movies for examples) there were small teams of men that would do patrol and engage with enemy if necessary when they encountered such an occurrence.

These small teams, while trained to work as a unit together to achieve their objective, had a leader. This leader was the one who ultimately made the calls. The members of the team would trust that person implicitly and obey their every command. You did it because your life, in reality, depended on your obedience in those situations. When they told you to “come” you would come and when they told you to “go” you would go. The minute you decided to do your own thing, you not only put yourself at risk but you put the whole team at risk.

Now in that situation there was always something you could count on and that is that when the Leader told you to “come” you knew that he had your back in that moment. You were covered. When he told you to “go” you knew that you could go because again he had you covered. Trust and Obedience played a very big role in ensuring your safety in situations like that.

When I think about Jesus and how He calls his people to first “come” and then “go” I get the same idea of that “Trust” and “Obedience” experienced in the life threatening situations of war. In a war scenario when you are engaging with the enemy you would never even question the command of the leader but simply obey it.

But how do we respond to the commands of Jesus?

When Jesus says “come” do we drop everything and move towards Him? What about when He tells us to “Go”, do we first question everything or do we actually trust Him enough to immediately go?

Following Jesus, as I mentioned earlier, is going to consist of both.

Following Jesus means obeying the command to “come” as well as obeying the command to “Go”. But we are not always very good at that are we?

Many Christians in the world believe in Jesus and proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. In fact there are many people in the world who simply regard themselves as Christians even though they live their lives in complete contradiction to what it means to be a Christian. Not all Christians actually follow Jesus.

I believe it was Mahatma Gandhi that is quoted as saying, “I too would be a Christian if I could find but one Christian that actually follows Christ.”

What happens for many of us as Christians in the world is that it seems very difficult to follow the commands and teachings and ways of Jesus. For many of us its very difficult to apply them to our lives. So instead we do a very strange thing. It’s a very common thing but it’s very strange. We tend to do our own thing and then we try and get Jesus to follow us.

Instead of coming and going when Jesus commands, we much rather come and go as we please and then we try and take Jesus along.

We do this don’t we? Think about it.

Instead of stopping to listen to what Jesus wants us to do, we do our own thing, we make our own decision and then we try and get Jesus to buy in to that idea. Sadly, when it doesn’t work out too well, we turn to God and often blame Him for what has happened.

In the example above of a fighting unit in a time of war, we would never question the command of the team leader, yet, when it comes to the Creator of the Universe we question His command. We know that our fighting “Team Leader” has got us covered when says “come” or “go” and yet we don’t always trust that God has us covered when He tells us to “come” or “go”.

Jesus tells us that He is always with us “even unto the end of the age”. He is always there. We can trust Him. When he calls us to “come” we can obey. When He tells us to “Go” we can obey and we can do it without any fear. When we are obedient to His direction, we can trust Him that He has got us covered.

The challenge for us is to discern whether it is Jesus or ourselves that we are listening to. The challenge for Christians is to discern whether we are actually following Jesus or whether we are trying to get Jesus to follow us.

Which is it for you? Are you following Jesus or are you trying to make Jesus follow you?

111119 – Impossible?

The book of Judges in the Bible, Chapter 7 recounts a story of Gideon.

Gideon is about to go into battle against the Midianites. He has a strong army and is ready for battle but God has other plans. God tells Gideon that his army is too big and that he needs to send some of the men home. Gideon tells his men that whoever of them are fearful can leave and return to their families. With that, 22000 men leave! Which is effectively two thirds of his army!

Only 10000 men remain. Surely that’ll be enough? I mean the scriptures tell us that in this scene when they looked down into the valley of the enemy that they were so many in number that they were “as thick as locusts” (Judges 7:12) and that their “Camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore”. I’d say attempting this with only 10000 men was a long shot.

God still says that Gideon has too many men. God wants to show His power here, and honestly, even Gideon must’ve started getting nervous.  God tells Gideon that he must select only the men that he approves to stay and fight and the others must be sent home. He tells Gideon to take the men to the water and watch them drink. Those who cup the water in their hands and lap it up like dogs will stay and those that kneel to drink must go home.

Gideon does this and after he has sent those that kneel home, he is left with only 300 men. What? From 32000 to 10000 all the way down to 300! Impossible…Right? Certainly sounds like it. What’s the odds of only 300 men defeating such a large enemy?

With those 300 men and with God on their side the Israelites defeated the Midianites in the valley below Mount Gilead that day.

This story seems almost unreal. It sounds impossible doesn’t it? For God though, nothing is impossible. We are dealing with the Creator of the Universe here. This God, the one true God, Creator of all things, spoke (by word) the whole of Creation into existence. Surely He can defeat an enemy with only 300 faithful and loyal men.

God seems to do this kind of thing a lot throughout History. Just when you think the odds are against you; When the qualifications aren’t quite there; When the resources are limited; When the situation seems nothing  less than impossible; It is then that God comes through and shows how mighty and awesome He is.  The story of Gideon is one example. The story of Jesus who builds, teaches and develops up only 12 disciples who then spread the Gospel and effectively change the entire world forever is another.

God never does it alone though. He always uses His people to accomplish His will on earth. But to be used by God we need two things. We need to trust Him regardless of how slim and small the resources might seem and secondly, in the often frightening and anxious face of that, we need to be obedient to His will. With an obedient heart and the minimal of resources, God can work miracles in the world.

You see it doesn’t matter what your qualification or skill set is. It doesn’t matter what resources you might have available, however small and insignificant they may seem to you. If you hear the voice of God and are obedient to that call, through you God can accomplish amazing things in this world.

So do we hear Gods voice in our lives? Can we focus on what we do have (God) instead of being focused on what we don’t have (Skills & Resources)? Can we offer ourselves in obedience to Gods will? If we can answer “Yes” to each of these questions, we can prepare ourselves for amazing things to be done in the Kingdom for our God.

111116 – Shalom

In the beginning of Creation there was only “Chaos” and then God spoke and out of this “Chaos” a specific “order” was created. The very act of Creation gives us a very clear idea of the nature of our God. Not only is God a Creator (And Re-Creator/Re-Builder) but One who brings Peace and Order where there is only “Chaos”.

God proves this time and time again throughout scripture. Wherever there is chaos and God intervenes, be it physically in the world; be it in someone’s life; be it in some or other situation; He brings peace, restoration, healing and order.

The Hebrew word for “Peace” is the word “Shalom”. In the English language though, we lose a lot of it’s meaning by simply translating it to be “Peace” because the meaning and understanding of what “Shalom” actually is intended to mean is so much deeper than this.

We understand “peace” as “a time when there is no war or conflict”. We also understand “peace” to mean “calmness”. But “Shalom” means more of a “Completeness” and “Wholeness” of ones entire life. We often speak of and experience “Peace” as an emotional thing within ourselves. “Shalom” extends to every aspect of ones life be it spiritual or physical.

So to wish “Shalom” on someone would be to wish them prosperity, wholeness, completeness and peacefulness in every aspect of their life be it family, work, Finances, relationship, health etc. You see it is so much more than just the “Peace” that we understand.

So effectively what God does when entering into any situation, both spiritual and physical, where there is Chaos is He brings this “Shalom” into that situation. In fact we might even go as far as saying that God is “Shalom” for in Him we have all that we ever need. Where God enters, calmness and wholeness are created in that place and in that space.

God’s wish for each one of use is that we will experience this “Shalom” in our lives. Perhaps this is what Jesus is referring to when He tells us that He came that we may have life and have it abundantly.

Did Jesus come that we may experience the “Shalom” of God in and around us in the here and now?  I think that this is certainly one of the reasons that Jesus came.

When we follow God we don’t only worship Him with Songs and prayers etc. In fact the Hebrew understanding of Worship is one that expects us to offer our whole lives (the way we live) as worship of God. We might have heard of being “A Living Sacrifice” to God. It’s the same idea.

Part of living a life that is worthy of the worship of God is being ,not only a follower of Jesus but an agent of the Kingdom. Jesus is very clear on how He expects us to follow Him. He talks about following His commands and teachings. He also talks about loving our neighbor as ourselves. Furthermore, He talks about taking care of the poor, the orphaned and the widowed. In essence He is expecting us, as followers of His and agents of the Kingdom, to share the “Shalom” of the Father into the lives of those around us each and every day.

So how do we do that?

Well, I think that every person around us, regardless of who they are, experiences some kind of “Chaos” in their lives. I believe that it is one of the side-effects (if I can call it that) of sin. After the fall of man it was sin that entered the world and created the chaos that we experience in the general human condition. Bringing “Shalom” into the lives of someone we interact with would look something like providing for their physical needs (food, clothing, shelter etc) as well as for their spiritual needs (Perhaps they need a word of encouragement; or an ear to hear; or just company to share; or a prayer for healing; or a prayer to break free from anxiety or depression).

Whatever the chaos looks like, in whatever form it takes, God wants to bring His “Shalom” into that situation and He wants us as His agents to do it with Him.

May you and loved ones experiences Gods warm and all-encompassing “Shalom” in your lives and may you take this which you have freely received and share it with others that you interact with each and every day. In doing that, may our lives be worthy of being the true worship we offer to our Father in Heaven. Amen.

111114 – Megiddo

While recently travelling through Israel, one of our stops was “Tell Megiddo”. It’s an amazing place to see.

Megiddo used to be a city of extreme importance because of its geographical location. It is located at such a position that whoever controlled the city controlled the main trade route between Egypt and Assyria, which passed through the Jezreel valley.

Because of this strategic location, Megiddo saw more than its fair share of conflict. Everybody wanted to control the place so they could control the trade route. The wars and conflicts around and in Megiddo where in fact so many that the Apostle John in his writings of the book of “Revelation” claims that the final battle to end all battles will happen at Megiddo. We know this in English as “Armageddon”.

Today the city is just ruins. It’s what Archaeologists call a “Tell”. As the first cities were destroyed so a new city was just built on top of those ruins and so today it looks like a hill. Archaeologists have sliced away a section of the hill (Tell), much like a slice out of a cake, and this has revealed none less than 26 layers of previous cities all built on top of each other over the ages.

So you would have these flourishing cities for a while and then, that city would be destroyed in battle and a new one would be built on top of that. Again a period of peace and quiet and then another battle and yet another new city built on those ruins.

As I was standing there thinking about this it occurred to me that the story of Megiddo, for many us, myself included, is almost the story of life. I mean, we start off doing one thing and being something and then suddenly there is a change. So we change and then we rebuild from there.

Think about it. Say you have a job and everything is fine for a few years and then suddenly, you get retrenched. Or you are happily married for years and then suddenly it all falls apart. Or we have a friend and we trust them and then one day they betray us and that trust is broken. When stuff like this happens its like conflict in our lives and it hurts us. We could almost say that there is some form of “destruction” within us and it leaves what could be referred to as “ruins” (like Megiddo).

But we don’t take stuff like that lying down (Do we?) so we pull ourselves together and then we start to rebuild. That experience though is always a part of us. We learn from it but we move on. In this way it’s very much like rebuilding a new city on top of the old one. Life is a lot like the story of “Megiddo”.

But here is what I learned about my life when I learned the story of Megiddo:

-       Megiddo was positioned where it could make the most influence. Do we position our lives in a way that we can make the most influence in the world for the Kingdom of God?

-       Because of its position Megiddo suffered a lot of conflict. In life we often don’t do what we ought to do or make a stand when we ought to because we fear the conflict that comes with it. If we are going to position our lives in such a way to make a difference for Jesus, we should expect a fair amount of conflict.

-       Just because Megiddo suffered conflict and destruction, it didn’t change its location, it built itself up on top of it’s ruins. When bad things happen to us and seem to hurt, destroy and oft times ruin us, we can either remain in “ruins” or we can choose to rebuild on the “ruins” that are left behind. We can learn from that experience. Take something from that experience and rebuild our lives and ourselves to be better than before and stronger than before.

-       Megiddo, was rebuilt none less than 26 times. How’s that for perseverance? As a person created by the very Creator of the Universe and in His image, how many times do you think you can rebuild yourself?

With Gods help, we can always, regardless of what happened to us, regardless of what age we are, regardless of the extent of those ruins, rebuild our lives.

God is a Creator. He is ready to take your life as it is today. It doesn’t matter how ruined you may think it is. God is always ready to meet you where you are right now and to help you start rebuilding.

The question is: Are you ready?

111106 – Joy

Some years ago I had the opportunity of travelling to the Mpumalangha area of South Africa.

It’s a very beautiful place and some of South Africa’s most beautiful sites are located in that area. Having been there a few days (We were situated North at the Blyde River Canyon) we overheard some people talking about a place called something like the “Monument Of Man”. I actually cannot remember what it was called exactly but I know it was something similar to this.

They were saying how interesting it was to visit and that it also boasted to be the largest Rock Overhang in the Southern Hemisphere! Coming from the Eastern Free State where there are none less than three impressive rock overhangs, we decided that if only to view this massive rock overhang, the trip would be worth it.

So the next day we went in search of the “Monument of Man” and found it. Got charged some R80 at the gate and walked in. 150m further on we came to a cliff face where this “massive” rock overhang was barely an overhang large enough to keep me dry if it were to start raining. I remember asking whether this was actually a rock overhang at all as I stared at the rock in disbelief.

The point is that…it was probably the most disappointing thing I have ever seen. I was so excited to see it but when I finally got there I couldn’t believe that someone had actually charged me R80 to see it. Even if it was free I would’ve still been disappointed.

But sometimes, perhaps more often than not, life is like this isn’t it? We reach for something, strive for something, desperately work to achieve something and then when we eventually get there or get it, we realize that it simply isn’t as great as what we expected it to be.

When I started working some years back, the coolest thing to me was a Black Leather Lounge Suite. This is all I wanted. My life would be complete when I owned my Black Leather lounge suite. So I saved up enough and eventually after about 4 years of working, and with the help of some extended credit, I managed to get this lounge suite I had always wanted.

Man I was proud and for the first few days it was fantastic! After about a week it became a little less fantastic and after about a month it was just some furniture in my house. The point is that the “Joy” I was expecting in having this lounge suit soon disappeared after I got it. It didn’t last. The “Joy” that was promised was simply an illusion.

Where can we find lasting “Joy” and can we have it in this lifetime?

In 2007 we started a new Church in Langenhovenpark, Bloemfontein, in the Free State. As part of that startup I started a group that meets on a Sunday evening at 6pm. The main aim of this group was to study interesting apsects of Christianity and try to see if one could actually achieve this “Life in all its fullness” that Jesus talks about.

We have since learned many valuable lessons as we search for this abundant life, but one of the key things to having an abundant life, I would say, is finding lasting “Joy”. Can we have it? In the here and now? If so, how do we get it?

In the Gospel of John 15:9-11 Jesus shares with us 3 verses about “Joy”. First He tells us that we should “remain in Him as He has Remained in the Father”. Then He says that if we “keep His commands”, just as He has kept His Fathers commands, then we will “remain in Him”.  He finishes by saying why he tells us these things and its not to make life more difficult for us, its not for Him to receive more worship and praise from us, its not because He wants us to suffer in this life. No. He says in verse 11, “I have told you these things that my Joy may be in you and that Your Joy may be complete.”

Yes, “Joy” and lasting “Joy” is achievable in this lifetime. Jesus tells us exactly how to get it. We must “Remain (Abide) in Him” which we should do through scripture reading and daily prayer as we build an intimate relationship with Him. Also we should obey His commands. When we do these two things, His Joy will be in us and our Joy can be complete!

Now there’s much in the world that steals our Joy. I think its Joyce Meyer that wrote a book about “What Steals Your Joy?”. But basically, anything in life where God isn’t present, or any earthly thing that we achieve, or aim to achieve or own, without God is just going to end up being joyless for us.

The root of our Joy must be in God and in Jesus.

Things that steal your Joy, when you consider them, will be things that steer you from what God wants for you and what Gods will is for you.

Think about your life today. Think of the things that bring you the greatest Joy right now. Now think of the things that bring you the least amount of Joy in your life. Am I right if I go out on a limb here and say that, and I’m guessing but, the things in your life that bring you the least Joy are probably the very things that demand the most of your time at the moment. Am I right?

Alternatively, the things that bring you the most Joy are the things that you get to spend the least amount of your time on right now.

Am I right about that?

If this is true, don’t you think we should re-prioritize our lives? Jesus wants us to have this Joy and He wants that Joy to be complete. He wants us to have life and have it abundantly!  He tells us how to do it, but its going to take some re-prioritizing from our side to get it right.

Do you want Joy in your life as I do in Mine?

Lets start by abiding in God and Jesus and living according to His commands. If we can get that right, the rest of our lives will fall into place and prioritize itself the way it should, according to Gods will.

Are you willing to try it? Are you willing to take God at His word?

I hope so. Give it a go!